1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating component placement system for electronic equipment, and more specifically to a system which enables the selective placement of operating components for various functions on the front panel of electronic equipment such as radio equipment, in accordance with the needs of the operator or the installation location and the like.
2. Related Art
Electronic equipment such as radio equipment has many operating components located on a front panel, the placement of which thereon is done with consideration given to the ease of operation when performing control of the associated functions. For example, the scheme followed in the case of radio equipment is that operating components for changing the frequency, which are often operated (such as rotary encoders) are placed on the right side, operating components for audio volume adjustment (such as potentiometers) are placed on the left side, and switches used to change the mode or select a frequency band (such as pushbutton switches) and squelch level adjusting components (such as potentiometers) are located in the center.
There are a variety of methods of mounting operating components to a front panel, the general method employed being that of pre-assembling operating components to a panel board, and then mounting the panel board to the rear surface of the front panel, so that operating parts of the operating components protrude through or are exposed via holes formed in the front panel, with knobs mounted to protruding shafts that form the operating parts of operating components.
The configuration shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 of the accompanying drawings is that of an example applied to a radio receiver, these drawings being an outer perspective view and an exploded view of the various constituent elements thereof.
In these drawings, the reference numeral 101 denotes a die-cast chassis, 102 is a PCB (printed circuit board), onto which is packaged an electronic circuit, 103 is a top cover, 104 is a bottom cover, 105 are operating components such as potentiometers, rotary encoders, and switches, 106 is a liquid-crystal display panel, 107 is a panel board, 108 is a front panel, 109 are knobs, and 110 is a transparent acrylic sheet, the radio receiver 100 being assembled by the following procedure.
First, the PCB 102 is mounted to the die-cast chassis 101 after the connector 102a is mounted to the PCB 102.
The panel board 107 also is formed by a PCB, the various operating components 105 being soldered or brazed into place with the operating parts thereof passing through the holes pre-formed in the panel board 107, the terminals of each being connected by soldering to the conductive pattern parts of the panel board 107, and the LCD panel being mounted to a window formed in the panel board 107.
A connector-terminated cable 107a is also connected to the panel board 107, thereby completing the overall panel board assembly 107b. 
Next, holes and windows are formed also in the front panel 108 at positions corresponding to the holes and windows in the panel board 107, the panel board assembly 107b, to which are mounted the various parts 105, 106, and 107a, being mounted to the rear surface of the front panel 108, and the transparent acrylic sheet 110 being mounted to the window part formed at the front surface of the front panel 108.
Then, the entire front panel 108, to which is mounted the panel board assembly 107b, is mounted to the front surface of the die-cast chassis 101, after which the connector-terminated cable 107a of the panel board assembly 107b is connected to a connector 102a on the PCB 102, and if there are connectors on the rear surface of the die-cast chassis 101, these are also connected to the PCB 102.
After the above is done, the top cover 103 and the bottom cover 104 are mounted to the die-cast chassis 101, and finally knobs 109 are pressed from the front side onto shafts of operating parts of the operating components 105 passing through holds in the front panel 108, thereby completing the assembly of the product (the radio receiver 100).
Recently, to simplify the assembly process, a bracket or the like, to which individual components are mounted, is fixed to the PCB 102, with the parts 105 and 106 being directly mounted to the PCB 102, along with the electronic circuit, so as to achieve an assembly.
Although the layout of the operating components on the front panel as described above is done with the assumption of a right-handed operator, the operator of the radio equipment or the like is naturally not necessarily right-handed, and might have lost the use of the right hand for reason of some disability or injury, making operation extremely difficult.
Additionally, in mobile radio equipment installed in a vehicle, with restrictions in the installation location, there are cases in which fixing the location of operating components results in a worsening of ease of operation.
In view of the above-noted situation, although there is a significant need for placement of operating components to accommodate individual operating conditions, with the operating components 105 assembled to the panel board 107 as noted above, it is not possible to freely change the layout positions of the operating components 105 on the front panel 108. If an attempt is made to change the layout positions, it would be necessary to change the conductive path layout of the panel board 107 and the PCB 102 as well, the result being that only a made to order product could accommodate these changes, this product being highly costly.
In much recent electronic equipment, operating input signals are captured by a microcomputer circuit, which is caused to perform the prescribed control functions, so that operating components having the same attributes often have common specifications.
Thus, in applying a plurality of the same type of operating components, the shapes thereof are in common, and the associated panel holes are the same shape.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention, in view of the above-noted problems and the commonality of operating components, to provide a system that enables a maximum of freedom in layout positioning of operating components onto a front panel, in accordance with the operating conditions of a piece of electronic equipment.
The present invention is a operating component placement system for electronic equipment in which there are groups of parts of the same type of a plurality of operating components disposed on a front panel and in which the holes therefor have a common shape, this system having a panel board having connectors on the front surface corresponding to each of the operating components and a connection circuit for the purpose of connecting terminals of each connector to prescribed input terminals of an electronic circuit, and assembly units for connecting one end of a cable to terminals of a connector connected to the connector on the panel board side and the other end of the cable to individual operating components, wherein the cable length of each assembly unit associated with a group of operating components of the same type and form is made longer than the maximum distance between the connector to be connected to that operating component group on the panel board and the mounting position of that operating component group on the front panel, thereby enabling selection of the mounting position of the operating component of the same type and form on the front panel.
In the present invention, operating components are grouped into assembly units along with a cable and connector, with each operating component being connected, via the cable of its assembly unit, to a corresponding function connector on the panel board side, the cable of an assembly unit for a group of operating components of the same type and form being of a length that allows accommodation of the distance from the mutual connector-to-connector connection position to a selected mounting position of the operating component on the front panel.
Thus, it is possible for a group of operating components of the same type and form to arbitrarily select from each hole formed in the front panel for this operating component group and to mount the operating components into the selected holes, thereby enabling free selection of the layout on the front panel of operating components for various functions in accordance with the operation conditions of the electric equipment.
In the present invention, because assembly groups are formed for each of the operating components, it is desirable that a common method of mounting of the operating component to the front panel be adopted. However, if small boards, in which holes of a common outer shape for passing the operating components are formed are fixed to the front surface side of the operating components of each assembly unit, and a tongue is bent at positions of each operating component on the rear surface of the front panel so as to form a common holding mechanism for grabbing the small boards, it is possible to mount each operating component using a common holding method.
Additionally, with regard to the above-noted holding mechanism, if a metal sheet on which a mounting part for operating components is formed by a pressing operation is joined to the rear surface side of a main panel, and if this metal sheet has holes into which the small boards fit at positions for mounting each operating component on the main panel and tongues formed so as to protrude toward the holes, these tongues being bent toward the rear surface side, it is possible to simplify the manufacturing and assembly processes.